west virginiahttp://www.desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/3035/all
enNewspapers Complicit In Selling Phony “War On Coal”http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/12/16/newspapers-complicit-selling-phony-war-coal-report
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/shutterstock_104737748.jpg?itok=OlNjywx5" width="200" height="133" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><span class="caps">U.S.</span> newspapers are helping conservatives push their misleading “war on coal” narrative, according to a new report.<br /><br />
There are a number of reasons why the <a href="http://&lt;p&gt;U.S. newspapers are helping conservatives push their misleading “war on coal” narrative, according to a new report.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; There are a number of reasons why the tide has turned against the coal industry around the globe. Mining and burning coal for energy poses huge risks for human health and the environment, for instance, mainly due to the vast amounts of air and water pollution created throughout coal’s lifecycle.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Then of course there’s the fact that coal is the single largest source of global warming pollution&amp;mdash;while coal-fired power represents only 39% of all electricity generated in the U.S, according to the EPA, it is responsible for 75% of carbon emissions.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; And of course the health of coal miners and the safety of mining operations is a cause for concern, as well. The indictment of coal baron Don Blankenship is proof enough of that&amp;mdash;a U.S. attorney recently pressed conspiracy charges against Blankenship for violating federal mine safety and health standards and impeding federal mine safety officials, among other offenses committed before and after the explosion at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine in 2010 that took the lives of 29 workers.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; If you need more proof, there was a study conducted this year that found the worst form of black lung is affecting miners in Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia at levels not seen in four decades.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; But it’s not just the dangers of the job that are driving coal miners out of work: greater automation in coal mining operations and the rise of cheap, abundant natural gas thanks to fracking have also taken a heavy toll on the coal industry.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Yet a Media Matters analysis of the 233 articles published in major U.S. newspapers this year that mentioned the phrase “war on coal” found that more than half ignored all of these underlying causes of the coal industry’s decline.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Just 68 of the 233 articles mentioned climate change--and that was the issue most frequently cited. The other issues, which have had the biggest impact on coal-producing states in recent decades, recieved “especially sparse” coverage, Media Matter found: “Health and pollution, economic and technological factors, and miner safety received mentions in 43, 33, and eight articles, respectively.”&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Even the articles that did mention climate change were often misleading, Media Matters found, as they often did so in the context of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which aims to lower global warming pollution from power plants by setting out different emissions reduction levels for each state to reach by 2030, which in many cases will mean retiring aging coal-fired plants. The only problem is, those rules have yet to take effect.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Take out the articles that mention climate change alongside the supposed “war on coal,” and you’re left with only 18% of the 233 that mention the other issues that are actually impacting the industry right now.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; The Courier-Journal and The New York Times were the two papers that mentioned the real issues impacting the coal industry most frequently, as you can see from this chart:&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; [CHART]&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Some 127 articles did manage to work in a reference to President Obama being responsible for the “war on coal,” however.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Meanwhile, less than 10% of the 233 articles made any mention of the numerous threats to human health and the environment posed by coal or the many ways in which coal companies attempt to block any new regulations from impeding their ability to conduct business-as-usual.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; [CHARTS] &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style=&quot;font-size:9px&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image Credit: &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;" target="_blank">tide has turned against the coal industry</a> around the globe. Mining and burning coal for energy poses huge risks for human health and the environment, for instance, mainly due to the vast amounts of air and water pollution created throughout coal’s lifecycle.<br /><br />
Then of course there’s the fact that coal is the single largest source of global warming pollution—while coal-fired power represents only 39% of all electricity generated in the U.S, <a href="http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/sources/electricity.html" target="_blank">according to the Environmental Protection Agency (<span class="caps">EPA</span>)</a>, it is responsible for 75% of carbon emissions.<br /><br />
And of course the health of coal miners and the safety of mining operations is a cause for concern, as well. The <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/11/13/breaking-former-massey-energy-ceo-don-blankenship-indicted-over-2010-mine-disaster" target="_blank">indictment of coal baron Don Blankenship</a> is proof enough of that—a <span class="caps">U.S.</span> attorney recently pressed conspiracy charges against Blankenship for violating federal mine safety and health standards and impeding federal mine safety officials, among other offenses committed before and after the explosion at Massey Energy’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Big_Branch_Mine_disaster" target="_blank">Upper Big Branch Mine in 2010</a> that took the lives of 29 workers.<br /><br />
If you need more proof, there was a study conducted this year that found a <a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/story/life/wellness/health/2014/09/15/severe-black-lung-returns-s-levels/15664127/" target="_blank">severe form of black lung</a> is affecting miners in Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia at levels not seen in four decades.<br /><br />
But it’s not just the dangers of the job that are driving coal miners out of work: greater automation in coal mining operations and the rise of cheap, abundant natural gas thanks to fracking have also taken a heavy toll on the coal industry.<br /><br />
Yet a <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/12/09/study-how-media-advanced-conservatives-misleadi/201806" target="_blank">Media Matters analysis</a> of the 233 articles published in major <span class="caps">U.S.</span> newspapers this year that mentioned the phrase “war on coal” found that more than half ignored all of these underlying causes of the coal industry’s decline.</p>
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<p><br />
Just 68 of the 233 articles mentioned climate change—and that was the issue most frequently cited. The other issues, which have had the biggest impact on coal-producing states in recent decades, recieved “especially sparse” coverage, Media Matter found: “Health and pollution, economic and technological factors, and miner safety received mentions in 43, 33, and eight articles, respectively.”<br /><br />
Even the articles that did mention climate change were often misleading, Media Matters found, as they often did so in the context of the <span class="caps">EPA</span>’s <a href="http://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards/clean-power-plan-proposed-rule" target="_blank">Clean Power Plan</a>, which aims to lower global warming pollution from power plants by setting out different emissions reduction levels for each state to reach by 2030, which in many cases will mean retiring aging coal-fired plants. The only problem is, those rules have yet to take effect.<br /><br />
Take out the articles that mention climate change alongside the supposed “war on coal,” and you’re left with only 18% of the 233 that mention the other issues that are actually impacting the industry right now.<br /><br />
The Courier-Journal and The New York Times were the two papers that mentioned the real issues impacting the coal industry most frequently, as you can see from this chart:<br /><br /><img alt="" src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/blogimages/Media%20Matters%20chart.png" style="width: 560px; height: 469px;" /><br /><br />
Some 127 articles did manage to work in a reference to President Obama being responsible for the “war on coal,” however.<br /><br />
Meanwhile, less than 10% of the 233 articles made any mention of the numerous threats to human health and the environment posed by coal or the many ways in which coal companies attempt to block any new regulations from impeding their ability to conduct business-as-usual.<br /><br /><img alt="" src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/blogimages/Media%20Matters%20graph%201.png" style="width: 560px; height: 524px;" /><br /><img alt="" src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/blogimages/Media%20Matters%20graph%202.png" style="width: 560px; height: 547px;" /><br /> </p>
<p style="font-size:9px"><em>Image Credit: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-104737748/stock-photo-a-dirty-coalminer-displays-a-lump-of-coal-as-a-power-and-energy-source.html?src=351k-b1WrweInAmeob-O7A-1-9&amp;ws=1" target="_blank">Joe Belanger / Shutterstock.com</a></em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8164">Media Matters for America</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/662">coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/19354">newspapaers</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/690">new york times</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/19355">The Courier-Journal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5157">media</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7278">Mainstream Media</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/19356">news analysis</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/939">climate change</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/913">global warming</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9685">Black Lung</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1276">Virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6594">Kentucky</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6039">air pollution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8916">water pollution</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1169">greenhouse gases</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/19357">climate emissions</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2940">electricity</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16747">Coal-Fired Power Plants</a></div></div></div>Tue, 16 Dec 2014 13:00:00 +0000Mike Gaworecki8914 at http://www.desmogblog.comCharges Filed Against President Of Freedom Industries, Company That Contaminated Drinking Water Of 300,000 West Virginianshttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/12/09/charges-filed-against-president-freedom-industries-company-contaminated-drinking-water-300-000-west-virginians
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Screen%20Shot%202014-12-09%20at%205.02.59%20PM.png?itok=s9wEVeDR" width="200" height="109" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The <span class="caps">FBI</span> has filed criminal fraud charges against Gary Southern, former president of Freedom Industries, the company responsible for <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/11/coal-chemicals-taint-west-virginia-water-supply" target="_blank">contaminating the drinking water of 300,000 West Virginians</a> with <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/12/09/3601157/gary-southern-arrested-west-virginia-freedom-industries/" target="_blank">10,000 gallons</a> of a toxic coal-cleaning chemical called Crude <span class="caps">MCHM</span> that leaked into the Elk River.<br /><br />
The charges stem from Southern’s actions in the aftermath of the chemical spill, when the embattled company executive, who drew <a href="http://mic.com/articles/78899/watch-the-ceo-of-freedom-industries-offend-every-west-virginian-without-water" target="_blank">fierce criticism</a> for drinking from a water bottle during a press conference in which he was attempting to apologize to West Virginians for contaminating their water supply, allegedly lied about his involvement with Freedom Industries in an attempt to shield himself from lawsuits and thus protect his personal fortune.<br /><br />
In a sworn affidavit included in the <a href="http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Southern.pdf" target="_blank">criminal complaint</a>, <span class="caps">FBI</span> Special Agent James Lafferty says “Southern engaged in a pattern of deceitful behavior” centered around his role at Freedom before it was purchased in December 2013 by a company called Chemstream and his knowledge of conditions at Freedom’s Etowah Facility, the chemical storage site responsible for the chemical leak.</p>
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<p><br />
The affidavit includes this example of false testimony made by Southern at a January 21 hearing for <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/19/west-virginia-polluter-freedom-industries-files-bankruptcy-halt-lawsuits" target="_blank">Freedom’s bankruptcy case</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
Q: You didn’t work for Freedom before the purchase by Chemstream, correct?<br /><br />
A [<span class="caps">SOUTHERN</span>]: I did not work for Freedom, no.<br /><br />
* * * * *<br /><br />
Q: Well, did you have any capacity prior to December 31, 2013 with any of the companies?<br /><br />
A: Yes.<br /><br />
Q: You did?<br /><br />
A: Prior to that — that’s a great question. Prior to then, I worked as a part-time, financial type consultant to help the owners of that business get their finances and systems kind of back on track. Which is why I have a relatively detailed knowledge of the business.<br /><br />
Q: The owners of what?<br /><br />
A: The previous owners of Freedom — the previous owners of Freedom Industries.</blockquote>
<p>In fact, Southern had served as Freedom’s Chief Operating Officer prior to the sale to Chemstream, not as a “financial type consultant,” as he claimed in sworn testimony. As <span class="caps">COO</span>, he managed Freedom’s day-to-day business, including operations at the Etowah Facility.<br /><br />
Lafferty says in the affidavit that “Southern’s goal in making the false and/or deceptive statements is to protect his assets from legal judgments that may result from the lawsuits” arising from the chemical leak.<br /><br />
Southern was arrested at his home in Florida and released on a $100,000 bond after appearing in a federal court today, <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20141209/GZ01/141209216/1101" target="_blank">according to the Charleston <em>Gazette</em></a>.<br /><br /><span class="caps">U.S.</span> Attorney Booth Goodwin, who was also involved in <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/11/13/breaking-former-massey-energy-ceo-don-blankenship-indicted-over-2010-mine-disaster" target="_blank">indicting former Massey Energy <span class="caps">CEO</span> Don Blankenship</a> last month, told the <em>Gazette</em> that he anticipates “further results very soon” when asked if more charges related to the chemical leak might be forthcoming.<br /> </p>
<p style="font-size:9px"><em>Image Credit: Screengrab of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAGixCOj8bg#t=18" target="_blank">video by <span class="caps">WCHS</span> <span class="amp">&amp;</span> <span class="caps">WVAH</span> <span class="caps">TV</span></a></em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/19298">Gary Southern</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14971">Freedom Industries</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12872">FBI</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12869">Federal Bureau of Investigation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8045">Charges</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/19299">chemical spill</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/662">coal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14974">Elk River</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6180">water</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5421">contamination</a></div></div></div>Wed, 10 Dec 2014 00:47:45 +0000Mike Gaworecki8896 at http://www.desmogblog.comFormer Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship Indicted Over 2010 Mine Disasterhttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/11/13/breaking-former-massey-energy-ceo-don-blankenship-indicted-over-2010-mine-disaster
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Don_Blankenship_Image.jpeg?itok=aB7OvfuW" width="200" height="187" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Former Massey Energy <span class="caps">CEO</span> Don Blankenship has been indicted on conspiracy and fraud charges for his role in the 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia that killed 29 workers.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/wvs/press_releases/2014-11-Nov/attachments/1113142_Blankenship_Indictment.html" target="_blank">statement by <span class="caps">US</span> Attorney Booth Goodwin</a> of the Southern District of West Virginia: “The indictment charges Blankenship with conspiracy to violate mandatory federal mine safety and health standards, conspiracy to impede federal mine safety officials, making false statements to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (<span class="caps">SEC</span>), and securities fraud.” You can <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/assets/PDF/CH62291113.pdf" target="_blank">read the full indictment online</a>.<br /><br />
Blankenship has long been a controversial figure. News of the indictment validates charges that have been made against him by environmentalists for years, not only over the <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/06/massey-deadly-mine/" target="_blank">poor safety and environmental record of Massey Energy</a> but also his <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2010/04/09/173222/blankenship-unions/" target="_blank">union busting</a> tactics, his <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/default/2010/04/08/90817/don-blankenship-in-2009-its-very-difficult-to-obey-nonsensical-safety-rules/" target="_blank">opposition to government regulations</a> on extractive industries, and his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEl7dF8N-ZU&amp;e" target="_blank">outspoken belief that climate change does not exist</a>.<br /><br />
Blankenship <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?13020430987" target="_blank">donated to just one federal candidate</a> in this year's midterm elections: future Senate Environment Committee Chairman James Inhofe, who <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-lanham/james-inhofe-climate-change_b_6142170.html" target="_blank">infamously called global warming</a> “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” (h/t <a href="https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/533022747027599361" target="_blank">Lee Fang</a>).</p>
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<p><br />
The indictment against Blankenship alleges that he conspired to commit routine, willful violations of federal mine safety and health standards at the Upper Big Branch Mine prior to the explosion on April 5, 2010, and that he was part of a conspiracy to prevent federal mine safety officials from discovering the safety violations that led to the disaster by giving advanced warning of inspections to workers at the mine.<br /><br />
The indictment also alleges that after the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, Blankenship made false statements about Massey Energy's safety practices prior to the explosion to the Securities and Exchange Commission and in connection with the purchase and sale of Massey stock.<br /><br />
Massey Energy was bought by Alpha Natural Resources in 2011. Blankenship has since attempted to <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/180795/disgraced-coal-baron-don-blankenship-rebrands-libertarian-activist" target="_blank">rebrand himself as a libertarian activist</a>. And he doesn't take any responsibility for what happened on his watch at the Upper Big Branch Mine: “The actual <span class="caps">UBB</span> explosion was partially the result of the war on coal,” he <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/180795/disgraced-coal-baron-don-blankenship-rebrands-libertarian-activist" target="_blank">told The Nation's Lee Fang</a>, who adds that, “Over the last year, Blankenship has tried to clear his name over the <span class="caps">UBB</span> mine disaster. He created a short video and has told almost <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-02/former-massey-ceo-don-blankenship-a-notorious-former-coal-chief-makes-his-case-for-vindication" target="_blank">any reporter</a> willing to listen that the disaster was a freak accident relating to the buildup of natural gas.”<br /><br />
Following the Upper Big Branch disaster, the <span class="caps">US</span> Chamber of Commerce and other political groups—like the Competitive Enterprise Institute, to which <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/234715580/CEI-990-Inc-Funding-2009" target="_blank">Massey Energy donated $100,000</a>—<a href="https://www.uschamber.com/letter/key-vote-letter-opposing-hr-6495-robert-c-byrd-mine-safety-protection-act-2010" target="_blank">defeated an attempt by Congress to tighten mine safety laws</a>.<br /><br /><strong>Update 11/14/14: </strong>Ken Ward Jr. of the <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20141114/GZ01/141119526/1101" target="_blank">West Virginia <em>Gazette</em> reports</a> that Don Blankenship will make his first court appearance next week at an arraignment hearing scheduled for 1:00pm Thursday. Through his lawyers, Blankenship has said he intends to plead his innocence and fight the charges. <span class="caps">US</span> District Judge Irene C. Berger issued a gag order forbidding all parties in the litigation from making “any statement of any nature, in any form” regarding the facts and substance of the case. This could be a huge blow to Blankenship's defense strategy, given the fact that, as mentioned above, he relies heavily on his ability to spin the facts in the media.<br /><br />
Pursuant to the gag order, <span class="caps">US</span> Attorney Booth Goodwin has removed the full indictment from his website, but Ken Ward Jr. saved a copy of the indictment laying out all the charges against Blankenship, and we've switched the link above to point there.<br /> </p>
<p style="font-size:9px"><em>Image Credit: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Don_Blankenship_Image.jpeg" target="blank">Brianhayden1980 / Wikimedia Commons</a></em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3730">don blankenship</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3731">massey energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/662">coal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11027">Mine</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5609">explosion</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16605">deaths</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/18912">indictment</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/18913">grand jury</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/18914">U.S. Attorney</a></div></div></div>Thu, 13 Nov 2014 22:59:46 +0000Mike Gaworecki8779 at http://www.desmogblog.comNew Short Film Exposes The Human Cost Of Coal Ash Dumpinghttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/10/22/new-short-film-exposes-human-cost-coal-ash-dumping
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/coal%20ash%20site.jpg?itok=KDQ2_FUc" width="200" height="116" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The threats posed by coal ash are <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/09/epa-and-tva-nix-coal-ash-spill-cleanup-efforts">well known today</a>, but not too long ago, the dangers of coal ash disposal were a dirty energy secret.</p>
<p>For a large section of residents in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the dangers of coal ash were kept a secret, and in their place the dirty energy industry fed them promises of a luscious, green and blue landscape that they could enjoy with their families. All they had to do was sign off on a coal ash dump in their area.</p>
<p>The energy company was First Energy, and a new short film by EarthJustice exposes the lies and the resulting impacts that their coal ash dump had on local communities.</p>
<p>The whole film, titled “Little Blue: A Broken Promise,” can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iwD5J7GX58">be viewed here</a>:</p>
<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4iwD5J7GX58" width="560"></iframe></p>
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<p>The story in the film is saddening and infuriating. Coal representatives were sent door-to-door in areas of West Virginia and Pennsylvania, where they made outlandish promises to citizens. Residents near Little Blue stream were promised by First Energy that a nearby coal ash disposal site would form a concrete-like barrier in the earth, creating a beautiful lake that residents would be able to use at their leisure.</p>
<p>Almost immediately after the company began dumping coal ash at the disposal site, residents noticed strange smells, breathing problems, and a strange color in the stream.</p>
<p>Like <a href="http://earthjustice.org/features/the-coal-ash-problem">most other communities with coal ash dumps</a>, the ones in the film are middle to lower income neighborhoods. This is a common practice among the dirty energy industry. <a href="http://earthjustice.org/features/coal-ash-contaminated-sites">EarthJustice has a website</a> available that tracks both operating and retired coal ash disposal sites, and which ones have been verified to have contaminated the local environment.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4406">coal ash</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6194">Fly Ash</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/13387">dump</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6750">Disposal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6751">Site</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5421">contamination</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8890">Toxin</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2625">pennsylvania</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14729">First Energy</a></div></div></div>Wed, 22 Oct 2014 20:00:00 +0000Farron Cousins8662 at http://www.desmogblog.comWest Virginia Officials Worried Freedom Industries Skimping On Chemical Spill Cleanuphttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/09/23/west-virginia-officials-worried-freedom-industries-skimping-chemical-spill-cleanup
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/freedom%20industries.jpg?itok=DcbzbsXK" width="200" height="133" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>In early January of this year, a chemical storage facility run by <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/11/coal-chemicals-taint-west-virginia-water-supply">Freedom Industries ruptured and leaked thousands of gallons</a> of chemicals into West Virginia’s Elk River. The leak <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/11/coal-chemicals-taint-west-virginia-water-supply">occurred less than 2 miles</a> from a water treatment plant that serves as many as 300,000 nearby residents. <br /><br />
Almost 9 months after the spill occurred, West Virginia officials are concerned that Freedom Industries is dragging their feet on the cleanup.</p>
<p>The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (<span class="caps">DEP</span>) said that the company <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140922/GZ01/140929958/1419">needs to be focused on actually cleaning up the spill</a> instead of focusing on entering a “voluntary” remediation program.<br /><br />
The comments came a few days after Freedom Industries submitted an updated remediation proposal to the <span class="caps">DEP</span> <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140922/GZ01/140929958/1419">outlining their plan</a> to start digging and testing soil and water samples in the future. To date, the company has not even finished demolishing their outdated and dangerous storage tanks that caused the spill in the first place. </p>
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<p><a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140922/GZ01/140929958/1419">Under an agreement signed</a> by state officials and Freedom Industries immediately after the spill, the company agreed to dismantle the faulty tanks.</p>
<p>Freedom Industries <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/11/coal-chemicals-taint-west-virginia-water-supply">produces toxic chemicals</a> that are used in the manufacture of steel and other metals, as well as chemicals that are used to “treat” coal. <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/11/coal-chemicals-taint-west-virginia-water-supply">As I wrote in January</a>: </p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">The leaking storage tank contained the chemical <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/11/3150431/photos-chemical-spill/">4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol</a>, which is used to “treat” coal supplies before they are shipped for burning. <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/11/3150431/photos-chemical-spill/">According to ThinkProgress</a>, the chemical “severe burning in throat, severe eye irritation, non-stop vomiting, trouble breathing or severe skin irritation such as skin blistering.”</p>
<p>Within a week of the spill, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/19/west-virginia-polluter-freedom-industries-files-bankruptcy-halt-lawsuits">Freedom Industries filed for bankruptcy</a> protection in an attempt to shield itself from potential lawsuits and cleanup costs resulting from their negligence. Bankruptcy has given the company the ability to delay their cleanup work on the spill that <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/21/west-virginian-communities-still-need-after-coal-chemical-spill">poisoned the water supply</a> for 300,000 people. </p>
<p>But the company’s time may have run out. <span class="caps">DEP</span> officials have ordered the company to appear in court prepared to answer “<a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140922/GZ01/140929958/1419">serious questions</a>” about the lack of progress on the cleanup, and to lay out a formal plan to handle the situation. </p>
<p>Freedom Industries <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140922/GZ01/140929958/1419">claims that their cleanup efforts have been hampered</a> by bad weather for the past nine months, but that excuse is not sitting very well with either the <span class="caps">DEP</span> officials or local residents. <br /><br />
Their failure to remove the remaining storage tanks makes them ineligible for the state’s remediation program, meaning they cannot receive help or funding from the state government for cleanup until they remove the tanks under state law. This has created a stalemate in the entire process.</p>
<p>The company will also be unable to enter the state’s remediation program if they do not comply with several unilateral orders handed down by the government after the spill. Those orders include providing a cleanup plan to the state and recovering any and all chemicals that were spilled. <br /><br />
So far, the state says that neither of these requirements have been met by the company. <br /><br />
It seems as though Freedom Industries is choosing to interpret its “freedom” to pollute however it wishes. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14971">Freedom Industries</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6432">Chemical</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6232">Spill</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14974">Elk River</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10407">remediation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/662">coal</a></div></div></div>Thu, 25 Sep 2014 14:00:00 +0000Farron Cousins8550 at http://www.desmogblog.comLoopholes Enable Industry to Evade Rules on Dumping Radioactive Fracking Wastehttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/06/02/loopholes-enable-industry-evade-rules-dumping-radioactive-fracking-waste
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/shutterstock_161153705.jpg?itok=w3rTBHt1" width="200" height="200" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>As the drilling rush proceeds at a fast pace in Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale, nearby states have confronted a steady flow of toxic waste produced by the industry. One of Pennsylvania's most active drilling companies, <a href="https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3ARRC&amp;ei=rLOLU8CKO6G1iAK074C4DQ">Range Resources</a>, attempted on Tuesday to quietly ship tons of radioactive sludge, rejected by a local landfill, to one in nearby West Virginia where radioactivity rules are still pending. It was only stopped when local media reports brought the attempted dumping to light.</p>
<p>“We are still seeking information about what happened at the Pennsylvania landfill two months ago when the waste was rejected, and about the radiation test results the company received from the lab,” Kelly Gillenwater, a West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman, <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2014/05/29/West-Virginia-rejects-drilling-waste-tainted-with-radioactivity/stories/201405290267">told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</a>, which had tracked the waste after it was rejected by a Chartiers, <span class="caps">PA</span> landfill because it was too radioactive. “For now this is still under investigation.”</p>
<p>It's one of a series of incidents involving the disposal of fracking's radioactive waste. Collectively these incidents illustrate how a loophole for the oil and gas industry in federal hazardous waste laws has left state regulators struggling to prevent the industry from disposing its radioactive waste in dangerous ways.</p>
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<p>Range Resource's sludge, transported in two roll-off boxes (the type commonly seen on the backs of dumptrucks), was rejected by the Arden Landfill in Chartiers, <span class="caps">PA</span>, a small town west of Pittsburgh, on March 1 after it tripped radioactivity alarms. After returning the radioactive sludge to the wellsite for storage, the company hauled it on Tuesday to the Meadowfield landfill in Bridgeport, <span class="caps">WV</span>, an hour and a half drive south of Chartiers.</p>
<p>The Meadowfield landfill, like the Arden Landfill, is owned by <a href="https://www.google.com/finance?q=nyse:WM">Waste Management</a>, but the two sites differ in one crucial respect: Meadowfield lacks a radiation detector, while Pennsylvania law required the Arden landfill to maintain one. So no radiation alarm was triggered at Meadowfield.<br /><br />
Ms. Gillenwater told the local press that West Virginia's inquires did not begin until state officials read about the dumping in a Pittsburgh newspaper.</p>
<p>Those 12 tons of sludge, from the Malinky wellpad in Smith Township, showed radiation levels of 212 millirems (normal background radiation in the area is roughly 7 to 8 millirems). West Virginia officials said the sludge that's been dumped in Meadowfield will be allowed to stay. <br /><br />
But Range Resources, which is currently storing unusually radioactive fracking waste at two other wellpads in Pennsylvania's Washington county, was forbidden to haul that material to West Virginia until regulators find out more about the potential hazards.</p>
<p>Several of Range Resources wells — the <span class="caps">MCC</span> and Malinky well pads in Smith Township and the Carter well pad in Mt. Pleasant — have produced sludge with unusually high levels of radioactivity this year.</p>
<p>A Range Resources spokesman, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/13/range-resources-spokesman-matt-pitzarella-misrepresented-education-credentials">Matt Pitzarella</a>, was quick to dismiss concerns, appearing in local news reports and seeking to downplay the incident.</p>
<p>The levels of radiation were “a little above background levels, but nowhere near unsafe levels,” he <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140529/GZ01/140529275/1419">Pitzarella said</a>. “This same scenario exists in every single industry,” he <a href="http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6184655-74/landfill-material-washington">told</a> Trib Media Live. Besides, it wasn't much sludge, he argued. “Picture several wheelbarrows,” he <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140529/GZ01/140529275/1419">told</a> the West Virginia Tribune.</p>
<p>But some locals said they remain concerned. Matt Pitzarella, the Range spokesman who made the above statements, has had his credibility questioned in the past. Earlier this year, Mr. Pitzarella was found to have misrepresented his education credentials and to have claimed he earned a <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/13/range-resources-spokesman-matt-pitzarella-misrepresented-education-credentials">masters degree in business ethics from Duquesne University</a>. “Matt Pitzarella does not have a degree from Duquesne University,” a spokesperson from the university confirmed in an email sent to Marcellus Monitor.</p>
<p>Range officials waved off those concerns. “What has happened here are a couple of published third-party references to (Pitzarella) that says he has earned a master's degree,” Range attorney David Poole <a href="http://http://www.shalereporter.com/industry/article_5a2a3dcc-7ec2-11e3-9cc9-001a4bcf6878.html">told</a> ShaleReporter, adding that Mr. Pitzarella had never directly claimed to have earned a diploma, only to have attended the program. Critics, however, pointed out that Mr. <a href="http://www.texassharon.com/2014/01/16/range-resources-david-poole-stands-by-his-man/">Pitzarella had never corrected the errors in his biographies</a>, and that he appears to have overstated the number of years he attended the program.</p>
<p>The levels of radioactivity found in the sludge are in fact over twenty times background levels — not enough to cause harm to anyone standing a few feet away, but enough to cause concern that if the sludge were to wash into one of two nearby creeks, tributaries of the Monongahela River, it could pollute those waterways. In neighboring Ohio, which has also grappled with disposing Pennsylvania's fracking waste, environmentalists have also <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/05/14/ohio-landfills-radioactive-fracking-waste/">raised concerns</a> about how liquid leachate from landfills that store radioactive waste will be disposed.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most striking thing about this incident is the fact that state regulators were only alerted to the shipment by press reports.</p>
<p>For most industries, a federal law, the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act, requires that hazardous materials (haz-mat) be closely tracked and disposed of under tight controls. Shippers must maintain a manifest that tracks every ounce as haz-mat moves from <a href="http://www.epa.gov/osw/laws-regs/regs-haz.htm">cradle to grave</a>.<br /><br />
But under an exception to that federal law, crafted in 1988, much of the oil and gas industry's toxic waste is not regulated by the <span class="caps">EPA</span>'s haz-mat rules. Although agency officials discovered strong evidence that the waste was dangerous, pressure from the Reagan White House<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/us/04gas.html?ref=drillingdown"> kept their conclusions out</a> of the report that the agency ultimately delivered to Congress.</p>
<p>With the shale gas rush bringing an unprecedented wave of drilling onshore, the job of keeping tabs on the industry's toxic waste is in the hands of state regulators. In 2009, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/01/us/natural-gas-documents-2.html#document/p88/a10124">Pennsylvania regulators considered</a> — and rejected — a plan to require a manifest system mirroring federal haz-mat tracking standards for fracking waste.</p>
<p>The state does now require landfills to install monitors with alarms that go off if trucks carrying radioactive waste pass through. Landfills are supposed to reject any waste emitting over 150 millirems. A 2012 <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/local/marcellusshale/2013/08/22/Marcellus-Shale-waste-trips-more-radioactivity-alarms-than-other-products-left-at-landfills/stories/201308220367">investigation by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</a> found that “nearly 1,000 trucks, carrying a total of 15,769 tons of Marcellus Shale waste were stopped at Pennsylvania landfill gates after tripping radioactivity alarms.”</p>
<p>When those trucks were turned back, that waste had to go elsewhere. And neighboring states have rules about disposing of fracking waste that are far more lax than in Pennsylvania. The patchwork of regulations means that rules can vary dramatically from state to state, and drillers can avoid costly regulatory compliance by crossing state lines.</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>[Radioactivity monitoring] currently is not a requirement under West Virginia law,” Gillenwater <a href="http://wvmetronews.com/2014/05/29/bridgeport-landfill-ordered-to-stop-accepting-drilling-waste/">told</a> West Virginia's MetroNews. “However, legislation was passed recently requiring the <span class="caps">DEP</span> to implement rules related to that and our agency is actually in the process right now of drafting rules related to that.”</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the New Jersey state Senate approved a bill that would ban fracking waste disposal in the state. New York and Massachusetts are considering similar measures. West Virginia's rules, when they go into effect, will require that radioactive fracking waste be stored in separately constructed lined pits.</p>
<p>But the state that has seen the greatest amount of waste from Pennsylvania's fracking rush, Ohio, still has weak regulations for solid fracking waste, a May 13 <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/in-fracking-hotbed-a-muted-approach-to-regulation">investigation by Propublica</a> concluded. The investigation found that over 100,000 tons of solid waste from Pennsylvania drilling wound up disposed in Ohio.</p>
<p>“It has the potential to leave a toxic legacy,” Alison Auciello of Food and Water Watch, an environmental advocacy organization, told Propublica, “that could turn much of Ohio into potential superfund sites.”</p>
<p><em><span style="font-size:9px;">Photo credit: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-161153705/stock-photo-barrels-casks-drums-of-nuclear-waste-d-rendering.html?src=m743dY4Y6cT2jKxutOIX1w-1-83">Barrels Casks Drums of Nuclear Waste</a>, via Shutterstock. </span></em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5565">shale gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7277">shale oil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6879">Radioactive</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6499">Drilling</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6305">oil and gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15185">RCRA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5338">hazardous waste</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6158">Range Resources</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16709">landfill</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2625">pennsylvania</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6303">Ohio</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/911">new york</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14142">sludge</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16710">radioactive sludge</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15288">Washington County</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16711">Mt. Pleasant Township</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16712">millirems</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16713">picocuries</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14915">dumping</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6280">Waste</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16585">radioactive waste</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16714">drill cuttings</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16715">Bridgeport West Virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16716">West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16717">radiation monitors</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/16718">loopholes</a></div></div></div>Mon, 02 Jun 2014 12:00:00 +0000Sharon Kelly8185 at http://www.desmogblog.comAfter Over a Decade of Fracking, Oversight of Industry's Radioactive Waste Still Lackinghttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/04/16/after-over-decade-fracking-oversight-industry-s-radioactive-waste-still-lacking
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/shutterstock_73342876.jpg?itok=XuTK-foU" width="200" height="200" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>It has been roughly twelve years since fracking launched the great shale rush in the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> and the biggest problem with the technology — how to safely dispose of the enormous quantities of toxic waste generated — remains unsolved.</p>
<p>In particular, regulators have struggled to fully understand or police the hazards posed by radioactivity found in fracking waste.</p>
<p>The most common form of radioactivity in shale waste comes from radium-226, which happens also to be an isotope that takes the longest to decay. To be exact, radium-226’s half-life of roughly 1,600 years means that well over a millennium and a half from now, more than half of the radium that fracking brings to the surface today will still be emitting dangerous radioactive particles.</p>
<p>Concern about the waste has taken on renewed urgency in light of a <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/122-a50/">detailed report</a> published in <em>Environmental Health Perspectives</em> (<span class="caps">EHP</span>), a peer-reviewed scientific journal which is backed by the National Institutes of Health. The study concluded that worrisome and extensive gaps in federal and state oversight of this radioactivity problem still persist.</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>At the federal level, radioactive oil and gas waste is exempt from nearly all the regulatory processes the general public might expect would govern it,” the researchers wrote. “State laws are a patchwork.’”</p>
<p>This is not an entirely new finding. Several years ago, a New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/us/27gas.html?ref=drillingdown">investigative piece</a> highlighted how the oil and gas industry routinely dumped radium-laced waste water into rivers. State regulators in Pennsylvania and the oil and gas industry adamantly denied there was a problem.</p>
<p>So what's changed? The recent academic study concludes that even several years later, worrisome oversight lapses remain. As such, the researchers wrote, there is continuing reason for concern.</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>We are troubled by people drinking water that [could potentially have] radium-226 in it,” David Brown, a public health toxicologist with the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project, <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/122-a50/">told</a> the researchers (insert in original). “When somebody calls us and says ‘is it safe to drink our water,’ the answer is ‘I don’t know.’”</p>
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<p>But there is more that makes this recent study important. Much of the public’s attention has focused on the hazards of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/04/fracking-us-toxic-waste-water-washington">280 billions of gallons</a> of radioactive wastewater generated every year by drillers. Regulators have found it difficult to keep tabs on how that waste is handled or how it is disposed, often relying on data self-reported by drillers. A study last year found that over half of Marcellus wastewater <a href="http://e360.yale.edu/feature/as_fracking_booms_growing_concerns_about_wastewater/2740/">still winds up</a> sent to treatment plants that discharge into rivers and streams.</p>
<p>However, in order to truly keep tabs on all of the radioactive materials from fracking, it’s necessary to understand that the radium often winds up accumulating on the surfaces <span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">it comes into contact with </span><span style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">— dirt, pipes and holding tanks.</span></p>
<p>Some of the researchers’ most interesting findings come from a little-noticed study published in 2013 that found that the soil in fracking wastewater pit soil can carry elevated levels of radioactivity, even after drillers pull up stakes and complete their cleanup efforts.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://baywood.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&amp;backto=issue,8,13;journal,6,92;linkingpublicationresults,1:300327,1">that 2013 study</a>, Alisa Rich, professor at the University of North Texas’s School of Public Health, and Ernest Crosby, who spent 28 years as a engineering professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, took a look at the wastewater impoundment pits where drillers often store wastewater before trucking it away for treatment, injection underground or recycling.</p>
<p>Although the study was quite small, based on just two sites on farmland in Texas, its findings were striking.</p>
<p>One of the two pits tested was still actively being used to store fracking wastewater. The other was a site where a pit had been drained and the surface restored and leveled to match the surrounding farmland, where livestock feed was being grown, and the samples were taken from a depth of six inches.</p>
<p>They were surprised to find that the drained pit still showed elevated levels of radioactivity. They wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Data from this limited field study showed elevated levels of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation to be present in reserve pit/sludge material and also in the soil of a vacated reserve pit after draining and grading to original topographic levels. Based on the use of the pit, the presence of radioactive materials was not anticipated. Agricultural land adjacent to the drained reserve pit may have an increased potential for radioactive material taken up in livestock feed crops growing on the land due to wind transport, runoff and migration of soil on adjacent land.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They cautioned, however, against inferring that all drained pits would show elevated radioactivity, explaining that the radioactivity could have been there before the pit was used to store fracking wastewater, in part because the oil and gas industry’s long history in the region meant that they did not know whether that land already had been contaminated before it was used to store wastewater.</p>
<p>Their unexpected findings indicated, however, that more research is needed into how adequate remediation is when it comes to wastewater impoundments, creating new questions about the adequacy of cleanup regulations for shale gas well sites.</p>
<p>In some states in the Marcellus region, where radioactivity levels are generally higher than in Texas, drillers are permitted to simply bury solid waste like wastewater impoundment liners on site. In West Virginia, for example, drillers may simply <a href="http://marcellus-wv.com/online-courses/waste/marcellus-issues-in-west-virginia-an-introduction-2/marcellus-issues-in-west-virginia-an-introduction-1">bury liners</a> used to store wastewater from vertical gas wells, although they may be required to obtain a landowner’s permission if the well is horizontally drilled. </p>
<p>The propensity for radium to accumulate also raises questions about the metal tanks, trucks and pipes used to transport fracking wastewater.</p>
<p>Combined with other elements like barium or strontium, the radium can form radioactive flakes on metal pipes used to transport the wastewater, for example, a problem that regulators refer to as pipe-scale. In filters, like the ones recently discovered <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/12/3395601/radioactive-oil-socks-found/">illegally dumped </a>in North Dakota, the radioactive materials can also start to build up. If enough radium concentrates in one place, the radiation it produces can become strong enough to potentially penetrate a person’s clothing and skin, making it hazardous to simply be near it.</p>
<p>But the <em>Environmental Health Perspectives</em> review found that there is little oversight to protect workers from radioactive accumulation.</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>Workers are covered by some federal radiation protections,” author Valerie J. Brown wrote, “although a 1989 safety bulletin from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration noted that <span class="caps">NORM</span> sources of exposure ‘may have been overlooked by Federal and State agencies in the past.’”</p>
<p>State regulators in Pennsylvania told the researchers that there was no evidence indicating that workers or the public faced a health risk from the radioactivity.</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>But given the wide gaps in the data,” Ms. Brown noted, “this is cold comfort to many in the public health community.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:8px;">Photo Credit: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-73342876/stock-photo-the-earth-oriented-to-asia-surrounded-by-barrels-of-nuclear-waste.html?src=0Q1cvnd_tGByPg27r22prQ-1-79">The Earth, Oriented to Asia surrounded by barrels of nuclear waste</a>, via <em>Shutterstock</em>. </span></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5565">shale gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7277">shale oil</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6879">Radioactive</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8799">Marcellus</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11831">radium</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/13209">radium-226</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15908">half life</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15909">decay</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8479">radon</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14033">peer-reviewed</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9871">National Institutes of Health</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15910">fracking pits</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14129">wastewater impoundments</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15911">liners</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14327">barium</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14328">strontium</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10407">remediation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15065">clean up</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15912">buried liners</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15913">Environmental Health Perspectives</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6444">public health</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15914">David Brown</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/917">texas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2625">pennsylvania</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15915">pits</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15612">tests</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15916">alpha radiation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15917">beta radiation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15918">gamma radiation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15919">livestock</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12599">Crops</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12585">soil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15920">dirt</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15921">pipes</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15922">tanks</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14143">workers</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11121">OSHA</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1088">North Dakota</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15923">radioactive dumping</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15924">Valerie J. Brown</a></div></div></div>Thu, 17 Apr 2014 12:00:00 +0000Sharon Kelly8004 at http://www.desmogblog.comAmid Calls for EPA to Reopen Fracking Investigations, States Confirm Contaminated Groundwaterhttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/31/multiple-states-confirm-fracking-has-contaminated-groundwater
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/bad%20water.png?itok=boBdH8-L" width="200" height="175" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Republican Sen. James Inhofe <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/04/21/160368/jim-inhofe-fracking-never-contaminate/">said it</a>. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper said it. Even former Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4RLzlcox5c">said it</a>.</p>
<p>For over a decade, oil and gas executives and the policy makers who support them have repeated a single bold claim: there has never been a single documented case where fracking contaminated groundwater. </p>
<p>But a blockbuster <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2022603080_apxgasdrillingwatercontamination.html">investigative report</a> by the <em>Associated Press</em> offered up new evidence earlier this month that the shale industry’s keystone environmental claim is simply not true.</p>
<p>Multiple states confirmed that drilling and fracking contaminated groundwater supplies, the investigation found. There have been thousands of complaints from people living near drilling over the past decade, the <span class="caps">AP</span> reported, and three out of the four states from which the <span class="caps">AP</span> obtained documents confirmed multiple instances where oil and gas companies contaminated groundwater.</p>
<p>Out of the four states the <span class="caps">AP</span> obtained documents from, only Texas reported no confirmed oil and gas-related groundwater contamination. But one <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/11/06/steve-lipsky-s-flaming-tapwater-no-joke">high-profile incident</a> in Texas has again come under scrutiny, as a <a href="http://www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2014/20131220-14-P-0044.pdf">report</a> quietly released by the Obama administration on Christmas Eve has called the adequacy of the state’s investigation into question.</p>
<p>On Monday, over 200 environmental groups called on President Obama to reopen the federal investigations into that case and others in Pennsylvania and in Wyoming, and to personally meet with people whose drinking water supplies have been polluted.</p>
<p>“The previously closed <span class="caps">EPA</span> investigation into these matters must be re-opened,” said <a href="http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/Obama_IG_Report_Letter_1-27-14.pdf">the letter</a>, sent the day before Mr. Obama's State of the Union address. “These three are among a growing number of cases of water contamination linked to drilling and fracking, and a significant and rapidly growing body of scientific evidence showing the harms drilling and fracking pose to public health and the environment.”</p>
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<p>In Pennsylvania, where the Marcellus shale has fueled the nation’s most aggressive unconventional gas rush, the number of complaints state regulators received is jaw-dropping. “The <span class="caps">AP</span> found that Pennsylvania received 398 complaints in 2013 alleging that oil or natural gas drilling polluted or otherwise affected private water wells, compared with 499 in 2012. …. More than 100 cases of pollution were confirmed over the past five years.”</p>
<p>To put those numbers in perspective, only 5,000 wells have been drilled so far in Pennsylvania. Regulators have <a href="http://http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/01/us/natural-gas-documents-2.html#document/p9/a10738">projected</a> at least 10 times that number will be drilled in the state over the next two decades.</p>
<p>In total, state regulators had confirmed at least 116 individual cases of water contamination in the past five years in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, according to the <span class="caps">AP</span> report. The confirmed cases do not include many incidents whose causes regulators are still investigating.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px;">Word Games</span></p>
<p>The shale industry’s claim that fracking has never contaminated groundwater has been debunked various ways by multiple venues, including the new Associated Press report. Nonetheless, the line has been a favorite talking point among politicians who support drilling.</p>
<p>For example, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper made the following statement in a 2012 radio ad: “In 2008, Colorado passed tough oil and gas rules. Since then, we have not had once instance of groundwater contamination associated with drilling and hydraulic fracturing.”</p>
<p>But according to <a href="http://checksandbalancesproject.org/tag/hickenlooper-2/">the Checks and Balances Project</a>, “[a] review of the Colorado Oil and Gas Information System shows that approximately 20 percent of all spills in 2012 resulted in water contamination; 22 of those spills impacted surface water, while 63 impacted groundwater. … In June of this year, Bruce Finley at the Denver Post <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_23519695/colorado-absorbs-179-oil-and-gas-spills-parachute">reported</a> that, according to Colorado Oil and Gas Commission records, 179 oil and gas industry spills occurred in the state, just during the first half of 2013. In 26 of those spills, groundwater was contaminated, and 15 of them directly polluted ponds and creeks.”</p>
<p>If the claim that fracking does not pollute groundwater is so demonstrably false, how can it be so widely repeated? Oil and gas executives like Exxon Mobil’s Rex Tillerson have repeated that line <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/us/04natgas.html?pagewanted=all">in Congressional hearings</a>, where a deliberately false statement could theoretically lead to a perjury charge.</p>
<p>At its root, the carefully-worded claim is built on a deeply misleading semantic maneuver. Every word in the sentence is carefully chosen. For starters, those who defend it <a href="http://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2013/07/02/sorry_josh_you_actually_show_fracking_is_safe_107113.html">claim</a> that unless one narrow stage of the shale gas extraction process, the hydraulic fracturing process itself, caused a rock fracture that allowed fracking fluid to rise up into aquifers, the contamination doesn’t count.</p>
<p>Did the contamination happen when the shale gas well was being drilled not fracked? Doesn’t count. Did the <a href="http://frackwire.com/well-casing-failure/">cement in the wellbore</a> crack during fracking, allowing contaminants to escape and pollute a water well? Doesn’t count, that was a cement problem not a fracking problem. Did an Exxon Mobil subsidiary illegally dump 57,000 gallons of wastewater from a tank onto the ground, leading to <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/03/3115991/exxon-criminal-charges-fracking-spill/">felony charges</a> against the company? Did a <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/marcellusshale/2012/05/25/Shale-drilling-contaminated-water-families-say-in-lawsuit/stories/201205250177">leaky fracking waste pit</a> pollute a water well and sicken several families? Does not count.</p>
<p>Insisting that contamination doesn’t count unless it happened in one particular way is not only misleading, it makes little sense. Without fracking, drillers could not pump gas from the shale formations that lay below the backyards of millions of Americans. Further, it matters little to the people living nearby what particular piece of equipment drillers were using when their drinking water went bad; it ultimately only matters that it happened because the drillers made a mistake.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px;">Hiding the Ball</span></p>
<p>But even by the narrow rules of the industry’s misleading semantic game, the claim that fracking has never contaminated groundwater has long been demonstrably false.</p>
<p>In August 2011, a front-page New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/us/04natgas.html?pagewanted=all">investigation</a> showed that as early as the 1980’s, the <span class="caps">EPA</span> had found instances where the precise problem occurred. “When fracturing the Kaiser gas well on Mr. James Parson’s property, fractures were created allowing migration of fracture fluid from the gas well to Mr. Parson’s water well,” the <span class="caps">EPA</span> wrote – describing exactly the type of incident the industry claims never happened.</p>
<p>The <span class="caps">EPA</span> added that this sort of contamination was “illustrative” of the hazards of fracking, and that they believed there were other examples but that sealed court records had blocked <span class="caps">EPA</span> investigators from accessing documentation of those events.</p>
<p>Restricting the conversation to only documented cases of contamination means that if you can keep the documentation out of the public eye through non-disclosure agreements, it didn’t happen.</p>
<p>But there’s another game that's played when only “documented cases” count: the burden of proof shifts. The industry, despite its extensive resources, doesn't have to show that water contamination that happens proximate to drilling is not their fault. Instead, landowners must prove causation.</p>
<p>The current drilling rush is taking place in an economy where wealth is heavily concentrated in relatively few hands. Pennsylvania’s shale region is <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390444549204578020602281237088">also the rust belt</a>, where the retreat of the steel industry and manufacturing jobs left many residents facing declining economic prospects. Landowners often simply do not have the financial resources to <a href="http://centerjd.org/content/faq-fracking-regulation-and-obstacles-litigation">pursue legal claims</a> that can require elaborate testing and the testimony of multiple experts in geology and rock mechanics. They often fail to arrange for pre-drilling water tests to prove their water was safe before drilling – and even when they do pay for water testing, the results may later be ruled inadmissible on a technicality.</p>
<p>And in proving that the company contaminated their water, landowners are up against the oil and gas industry’s highly-paid lawyers and their teams of expert witnesses whose job is to create doubt by suggesting that some other problem could possibly have been to blame. Landowners are very often simply out-gunned and out-spent by the oil and gas companies they believe contaminated their drinking water.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px;">Watching the Watchdogs</span></p>
<p>State regulators, charged with investigating contamination claims on taxpayers’ behalf, have often faced allegations of <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&amp;b=7876381">regulatory capture</a>. A still-unfolding case in Texas shows just how fraught state investigations can become.</p>
<p>Just before Christmas, the <span class="caps">EPA</span>’s internal watchdog, the Office of Inspector General, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-24/epa-fracking-probe-of-range-resources-met-requirements-ig-says.html">released a stunning report</a> that cast new light onto one of the most controversial groundwater contamination claims in the nation.</p>
<p>In August 2010, a homeowner in Parker County, Texas called the <span class="caps">EPA</span> to report that his drinking water had become flammable, launching a multi-agency investigation that turned into a major jurisdictional battle between state and federal environmental regulators. In 2012, driller Range Resources was <a href="http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/pressreleases/2012/033012.php">officially cleared</a> by Texas state environmental regulators, and the <span class="caps">EPA</span> had backed down from its investigation of the same incident. At the <a href="http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&amp;FileStore_id=7d4b80e5-a4f8-42c0-8c62-8cec8fd5e614">prompting of drilling supporters</a> in Congress who suspected that <span class="caps">EPA</span> was persecuting oil and gas companies, the <span class="caps">EPA</span>’s <span class="caps">OIG</span> began to investigate whether <a href="http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/money_to_burn/">an alleged anti-fracking agenda</a> had led <span class="caps">EPA</span> officials to overstep their authority.</p>
<p>But in a remarkable turn-around, the <span class="caps">OIG</span> <a href="http://www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2014/20131220-14-P-0044.pdf">not only found</a> that the <span class="caps">EPA</span> was justified in pursuing the Parker County case, but also that the state’s investigation, conducted by the Railroad Commission of Texas (<span class="caps">RRC</span>) which enforces environmental laws in the state, had been insufficient. State officials lacked clear standards for assessing water contamination, the report said.</p>
<p>“When we asked staff/officials of the <span class="caps">RRC</span> what sort of evidence <span class="caps">RRC</span> required to determine if a direct connection existed, they told us that they did not know,” the <span class="caps">EPA</span> Inspector General wrote, as they described the shortcomings of the state's investigation. “They said the <span class="caps">RRC</span> has never had a case where they found a direct connection between an oil or gas well and a drinking water well.”</p>
<p>Pressure is mounting for the <span class="caps">EPA</span> take over and resume a leading role in investigating the case.</p>
<p>If the <span class="caps">EPA</span> finds Range Resources responsible, Parker County will represent yet another instance, like the hundreds the <span class="caps">AP</span> found nationwide, where drilling and fracking have contaminated groundwater.</p>
<p>“The <span class="caps">EPA</span>’s internal watchdog has confirmed that the <span class="caps">EPA</span> was justified in stepping in to protect residents who were and still are in imminent danger,” <a href="http://http://www.earthworksaction.org/media/detail/inspector_general_epa_justified_in_intervention_to_protect_drinking_water_f#.Us2YO9JDuAg">said</a> Sharon Wilson, Gulf Regional Organizer of Earthworks and a blogger who <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-19/texas-fracker-accused-of-bully-tactics-against-foes.html">had emails subpoenaed</a> by Range Resources over her writing on the case. “Now we need an investigation as to whether political corruption caused <span class="caps">EPA</span> to withdraw that protection.”</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6635">Water Contamination</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7098">groundwater</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14901">ground water</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14902">water wells</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2920">pollution</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6304">talking points</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14903">no documented case</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5137">hydraulic fracturing</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14904">causation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/sen-james-inhofe">Sen. James Inhofe</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14905">John Hickenlooper</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3930">Lisa Jackson</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1278">Associated Press</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9735">Kevin Begos</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6499">Drilling</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14906">contaminated groundwater</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2625">pennsylvania</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6303">Ohio</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/917">texas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14907">regulators</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2581">water quality</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5565">shale gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7277">shale oil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11834">spills</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14908">cracked casings</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14909">Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM)</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/726">rex tillerson</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/12160">cement</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14910">tank</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8942">Criminal Charges</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14911">felony charges</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14912">perjury</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14913">wastewater pits</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14914">leaks</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14915">dumping</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/690">new york times</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14916">Drilling Down</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14917">Kaiser gas well</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14918">non-disclosure agreements</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14919">proximate cause</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14920">rust belt</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14921">litigation expenses</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7294">doubt</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6157">Texas Railroad Commission</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1471">Environmental Protection Agency</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/epa">EPA</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14922">Office of the Inspector General</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6156">Parker County</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14923">flammable drinking water</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14924">Range Resources (NYSE: RRC); Sharon Wilsom</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6154">Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project</a></div></div></div>Fri, 31 Jan 2014 13:00:00 +0000Sharon Kelly7736 at http://www.desmogblog.comWest Virginian Communities Still In Need After Coal Chemical Spillhttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/21/west-virginian-communities-still-need-after-coal-chemical-spill
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/WVaWater.jpg?itok=Zl_I_uCy" width="200" height="150" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em>This is a guest post <a href="http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2014/01/21/west-virginian-communities-still-in-need-after-coal-chemical-spill-video/">by Jesse Coleman, cross-posted from Greenpeace <span class="caps">USA</span> blogs</a></em>. </p>
<p>On January 9th, Freedom Industries, a company that stores chemicals for the coal industry, spilled 7,500 gallons of crude <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Elk_River_chemical_spill" target="_blank">Methylcyclohexanemethanol</a> (<span class="caps">MCHM</span>), a little known, little understood compound into the Elk river. The spill occurred one mile upriver from the water intake that supplies tap water for all of West Virginia's capital city of Charleston.</p>
<p>The thick oily chemical was pumped through the water system and into homes and businesses throughout the area, causing vomiting, skin problems, and diarrhea. Now, nearly two weeks since the disaster was discovered, the water has been deemed “safe to drink,” though water from the tap still releases a sickly sweet chemical odor, especially when heated.</p>
<p>Pregnant women and children are still advised to drink bottled water, but very few people in the affected area are interested in drinking from the tap, with child or not. The tremendous need for potable water has led to the creation of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WVCleanWaterHub" target="_blank">West Virginia Clean Water Hub</a>, a community led effort to provide the people of Charleston and the outlying areas with bottled water, a need that government agencies have largely ignored. <em><a href="http://greenpeaceblogs.org/wp-admin/Sign%20this%20petition%20to%20demand%20justice%20for%20people%20whose%20water%20has%20been%20poisoned" target="_blank">Sign this petition to demand justice for people whose water has been poisoned</a>.</em><br /> </p>
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<p>So little is known about 4-<span class="caps">MCHM</span> that regulators didn't even know it's boiling point. Now scientists are scrambling to find out how the chemical reacts with the chlorine in the municipal water system, and whether the chemical has leached into water heaters and water pipes in people's homes. Authorities recommend that all pipes that have come in contact with the pollutant be flushed, including water heaters and outdoor faucets. However, West Virginia American Water, the company that owns the water treatment facility contaminated by the coal chemical, is only <a href="http://www.amwater.com/files/FAQ1-14-2014.pdf" target="_blank">offering a 10 dollar credit</a> (1000 gallons) to consumers. The cost of flushing homes will therefore fall on already struggling West Virginians, where poverty is rampant and Walmart is the largest single employer.<br /><br /><img alt="" src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/pTohIwrtbwJwuP41WZplpc3jOHEeH0Zd_R9O4LXRa5UDCzE1wkmza_rO3VEvweXIYIQwrXFrENe6fUbWAgoI5VOhYQ3Otg3mz5_rSdSeHWpysmA=s0-d-e1-ft#http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2813/12072101964_5f581a716c.jpg" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em; width: 560px; height: 747px;" /></p>
<dl></dl><p><br />
The affected intake also supplies water to 9 counties surrounding Charleston, which contain multiple rural communities, like the small community of Pratt. Pratt was added to Charleston's municipal water system only two months ago. This was initially celebrated by the <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201306110221" target="_blank">residents of Pratt</a>, because it meant relief from the extremely poor quality water from local sources, which have been <a href="http://www.epa.gov/waters/tmdldocs/WV/DioxinkanawhaDR_Report.pdf" target="_blank">contaminated</a> by Acid Mine Drainage, coal dust, and other<a href="http://www.dow.com/sustainability/debates/dioxin/definitions/how.htm" target="_blank">coal industry</a> impacts.</p>
<p>Water contamination from the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/wva-spill-exposes-risk-water-coal-21583025" target="_blank">coal industry</a> is nothing new to West Virginians, who have lived with poisoned wells streams for generations. This spill, the latest and most dramatic in a long history of water contamination, exposes the problems of lax and inadequate regulation coupled with politicians that prioritizes the bottom line of the coal industry over the health and safety of people. The chemical 4-<span class="caps">MCHM</span> was exempted from federal laws that require disclosure. The tanks that held the chemical were not required to be inspected regularly, due to a loophole that exempted above ground tanks from inspection.<br /><img alt="" src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/uhn5S0-BJjRYjos5IyPI5tRT1xdoJskMJaf18TrNwK13gyTV_oUU-coi7lL-VymRrwdGss20sq4e8Vf_On30JsteIRHWBkl5y3b6DqCPh8WLy7JKiQ=s0-d-e1-ft#http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5488/12072332766_a27494390b_o.jpg" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em; width: 560px; height: 420px;" /><br /><em><span style="font-size:10px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Crews continue to work on the site of contamination at Freedom Industries.</span></span></em></p>
<dl></dl><p>West Virginian politicians with close ties to the coal industry have continued to defend coal companies from federal and state regulation, even as 300,000 of their constituents went without drinkable water. Speaking at an event hosted by the coal front group <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/american-coalition-clean-coal-electricity-accce" target="_blank">American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity</a> (<span class="caps">ACCCE</span>) last week, <a href="http://greenpeaceblogs.org/wp-admin/www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/us/chemical-spill-muddies-picture-in-a-state-wary-of-regulations.html" target="_blank">Joe Manchin</a>, West Virginia’s junior senator and former governor continued to defend the coal industry from reglation. “Coal and chemicals inevitably bring risk — but that doesn’t mean they should be shut down,” said Manchin. “Cicero says, ‘To err is human.’ But you’re going to stop living because you’re afraid of making a mistake?” Manchin has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/07/26/26greenwire-sen-manchin-maintains-lucrative-ties-to-family-64717.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank">significant financial ties to the coal industry</a>.</p>
<p>The current governor of Wet Virginia, Earl Ray Tomblin, was also <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/environmentalists-blame-coal-industry-to-west-virginia-chemical-spill/1832072.html" target="_blank">quick to defend the coal industry</a>. In a press conference days after the spill, he said ““This was not a coal company. This was a chemical supplier where the leak occurred. As far as I know, there are no coal mines within miles of this particular incident.” Governor Tomblin's remarks ignore the fact that many communities affected by this spill are only using municipal water because local sources have already been poisoned by coal extraction and use. Tomblin also ignored the fact that Freedom Industries' product is a necessary part of the coal extraction and burning process.</p>
<p><em>To <a href="https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/1441621/donate" target="_blank">donate</a> water to West Virginians, please visit the <a href="https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/1441621/donate" target="_blank">Keeper of the Mountain Foundation.</a></em></p>
<p><em>To <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WVCleanWaterHub" target="_blank">volunteer</a> or request clean water, visit the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WVCleanWaterHub" target="_blank">West Virginia Clean Water Hub</a>.</em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14971">Freedom Industries</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15102">Methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM)</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5335">drinking water contamination</a></div></div></div>Tue, 21 Jan 2014 21:17:12 +0000Guest7773 at http://www.desmogblog.comWest Virginia Polluter Freedom Industries Files For Bankruptcy To Halt Lawsuitshttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/19/west-virginia-polluter-freedom-industries-files-bankruptcy-halt-lawsuits
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/lawsuit_0.jpg?itok=yM-II6z5" width="200" height="150" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Freedom Industries, the company that recently <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/11/coal-chemicals-taint-west-virginia-water-supply">leaked thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals</a> into the Elk River in West Virginia, <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/18/w-virginia-water-polluter-freedom-industries-files-bankruptcy-in-legal-shell-game/">quietly filed for bankruptcy</a> this past Friday to shield themselves from the onslaught of lawsuits filed against the company.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/18/w-virginia-water-polluter-freedom-industries-files-bankruptcy-in-legal-shell-game/">current owner of Freedom Industries</a>, J. Clifford Forrest, took control of the company <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/new-owner-of-freedom-industries-must-face-fallout-of-west-virginia-chemical-spill/2014/01/17/77b1a572-7df2-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html">about a week before the chemical spill occurred</a>, and only a week later filed for bankruptcy. According to the filing, the company <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/18/w-virginia-water-polluter-freedom-industries-files-bankruptcy-in-legal-shell-game/">owes more than $3.6 million to creditors</a> (a fact that was known when Forrest bought the company in late December). </p>
<p>What Forrest couldn’t have known at the time was that he was sitting on a time bomb, and that his newly purchased company had been <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/west-virginia-water-crisis-who-s-really-to-blame">skirting safety regulations</a> and vital equipment upgrades in an effort to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/16/politics/west-virginia-chemical-water/">save a few bucks</a> in the short term. <br /><br />
The company is now facing an investigation by the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Department of Justice, in addition to <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/2014/01/dump-and-run-freedom-industries-files">at least 20 separate lawsuits</a> from residents. The number of lawsuits is expected to rise, as the chemicals spill is estimated to have <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/18/w-virginia-water-polluter-freedom-industries-files-bankruptcy-in-legal-shell-game/">poisoned at least one-sixth of West Virginia’s entire water supply</a>.</p>
<p>But Forrest isn’t the victim in this case. His decision to file for bankruptcy protection had nothing to do with the prior debts that the company owed, and everything to do with preventing the millions of dollars his firm will be forced to pay out in lawsuit settlements. The bankruptcy filing will <a href="http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/bankruptcys-automatic-stay">effectively temporarily “stay” the lawsuits</a>, which prevents any payments from being made.</p>
<p>Forrest knew this, and this is why he had his company file bankruptcy. But this doesn’t mean that the company is no longer in business. To the contrary, <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/18/w-virginia-water-polluter-freedom-industries-files-bankruptcy-in-legal-shell-game/">Raw Story has revealed</a> that Forrest is also the owner of a brand new firm called Mountaineer Funding <span class="caps">LLC</span>, which is funding the company to the tune of $5 million (more than enough to handle their current, non-lawsuit liabilities). So the liabilities of Freedom Industries can be handled by Forrest’s funding firm, as can the daily operations, but the lawsuits are now being held in limbo since Freedom Industries is technically “bankrupt.”</p>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">The practice of filing for bankruptcy following disasters is </span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-17/freedom-industries-files-for-bankruptcy-in-west-virginia.html" style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">quite common</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">, especially when it comes to environmental lawsuits. But this doesn’t mean that the victims in West Virginia will never get their day in court. <br /><br />
Should Freedom Industries be sold, even if it is broken into subsidiaries or smaller corporate pieces, the buyers </span><a href="http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/bankruptcy/lawsuit-judgments-discharged.html" style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">will assume not only the assets of the company, but its liabilities</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> as well. This includes the pending litigation against the company.</span><br /><br /><p>But the other fact that Forrest and any potential buyers of Freedom Industries understand is that environmental lawsuits take a very long time to make their way through the legal system. It can take years for full environmental assessments to figure out the extent of the damage. Additionally, it may take just as long for adverse effects to begin appearing within the population (for damages beyond the immediate lawsuits seeking restitution for loss of use and inconvenience). <br /><br />
Suing or settling before this monitoring is completed would severely hurt the injured people by rewarding them much less compensation than they should be entitled to.</p>
<p>There is also the fact that lawsuits take a long time to make their way through the court, typically due to the lengthy appeals process. </p>
<p>The legal battles will take years, and the bankruptcy process will only be a minor bump in the road by the time the dust settles. Freedom Industries will have years to make back the money that they will pay out, even before they have to cut a single check. And in the meantime, just as with many other environmental disaster stories, mystery illnesses could creep up within the population of West Virginia that will difficult to link with the company.<br /><br />
The only winner in this situation is J. Clifford Forrest, who will likely never have to pay a dime out of his own pocket for the disaster that occurred on his watch. He has perfected the age-old corporate practice of privatizing the gains and socializing the costs.</p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14971">Freedom Industries</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14974">Elk River</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6180">water</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2920">pollution</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5421">contamination</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6232">Spill</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/662">coal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15039">Clifford Forrest</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div></div></div>Mon, 20 Jan 2014 00:34:11 +0000Farron Cousins7765 at http://www.desmogblog.comCoal Chemicals Taint Water Supply of 300,000 In West Virginia, Hundreds Sickenedhttp://www.desmogblog.com/2014/01/11/coal-chemicals-taint-west-virginia-water-supply
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/WV%20chemical%20spill.jpg?itok=NBv0roV0" width="200" height="133" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Early Thursday, a chemical spill along West Virginia’s Elk River contaminated the tap water of as many as 300,000 West Virginia residents across nine West Virginia counties. The chemical spill occurred at a <a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201401100100">storage facility for Freedom Industries</a> less than two miles from a major water treatment plant.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ringoffireradio.com/2014/01/chemical-spill-places-west-virginia-state-emergency/">Freedom Industries produces</a> chemicals that are used widely in mining and steel production.</p>
<p>The leaking storage tank contained the chemical <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/11/3150431/photos-chemical-spill/">4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol</a> which is used to “treat” coal supplies before they are shipped for burning. <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/11/3150431/photos-chemical-spill/">According to ThinkProgress</a>, the chemical “severe burning in throat, severe eye irritation, non-stop vomiting, trouble breathing or severe skin irritation such as skin blistering.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201401100100">According to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection</a> (<span class="caps">DEP</span>), between 2,000 and 5,000 gallons of the toxic chemical made its way into the water supply. </p>
<p>Residents in the area were <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/09/us/west-virginia-contaminated-water/">immediately warned to stop using tap water</a>, out of fear that the chemicals could severely harm anyone who consumed them. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/09/us/west-virginia-contaminated-water/">Chemical levels have fallen</a> in the two days since the spill, but the ban remains in effect as the levels in the water are still far too dangerous for residents.</p>
<p>As of Friday, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/10/west-virginia-chemical-spill-thousands-exposure-symptoms">according to <em>The Guardian</em></a>, at least 670 people had called into the poison control center with reports of vomiting, nausea, skin irritation, and other symptoms. </p>
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<p>Freedom Industries <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/prnewswire/press_releases/Virginia/2014/01/10/PH44471">issued the following statement</a> the day after the spill:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;"><span class="dquo">“</span>Since the discovery of the leak, safety for residents in Kanawha and surrounding counties has been Freedom Industries' first priority. We have been working with local and federal regulatory, safety and environmental entities, including the <span class="caps">DEP</span>, Coast Guard, Army Corp of Engineers and Homeland Security, and are following all necessary steps to fix the issue. Our team has been working around the clock since the discovery to contain the leak to prevent further contamination. At this point, Freedom Industries is still working to determine the amount of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol, or Crude <span class="caps">MCHM</span>, a chemical used in processing coal, that has been released, as the first priority was safety, containment and cleanup.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Freedom Industries is in the process of setting up an Incident Command Center on site. As more factual information is made available, we will keep you updated.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.weather.com/news/chemical-spill-leaves-thousands-without-water-20140109">Officials have said that</a>, as of right now, there is no way to actually clean the contaminated water, and that the system will have to be completely flushed in order to rid the water supply of the toxic chemical. Residents are now facing a very severe water crisis, with <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/11/3150431/photos-chemical-spill/">stores quickly running out of supplies</a> of bottled water. <br /><br />
As far as I can tell, nobody is talking about the impacts on area wildlife, which has no bottled water option.</p>
<p>This chemical spill marks the third major environmental disaster in as many weeks, following coal train derailments in <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-31/north-dakota-train-fire-adds-fuel-to-keystone-xl-debate.html">North Dakota</a> and <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/01/10/new-brunswick-oil-train-wreck-draws-more-rail-transport-criticism-153064">New Brunswick in Canada</a>. This latest disaster highlights the significant danger that North America faces as we continue our dependence on fossil fuels, a theme that the <a href="https://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2014/01/sierra-club-statement-west-virginia-coal-chemical-spill">Sierra Club pointed out</a> in a Friday press release:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Coal mining communities are faced with the dangers of water pollution from coal mining and pollution every day. This spill pulls the curtain back on the coal industry's widespread and risky use of dangerous chemicals, and is an important reminder that coal-related pollution poses a serious danger to nearby communities. Americans, and the people of West Virginia, deserve greater accountability and transparency about coal industry practices.</p>
<p>The only question that remains is how many more disasters, how many more lives have to be put in jeopardy before we are able to abandon dirty, dangerous energy sources?</p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/666">Sierra Club</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6432">Chemical</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6232">Spill</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14971">Freedom Industries</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6698">Poison</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/13111">train derailment</a></div></div></div>Sat, 11 Jan 2014 17:57:06 +0000Farron Cousins7749 at http://www.desmogblog.comThousands of Miners' Benefits In Jeopardy As Patriot Coal Claims Bankruptcyhttp://www.desmogblog.com/2013/01/18/thousands-miners-benefits-jeopardy-patriot-coal-claims-bankruptcy
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Sequence%203.png?itok=Dhbu6ACr" width="200" height="133" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>On January 29, Patriot Coal Co. will begin Chapter 11 bankruptcy hearings in St. Louis, <span class="caps">MO</span> claiming that it's become a “victim of the markets” and can no longer pay its debts. These “debts” include millions of dollars of retiree health benefits. If the company goes under, the benefits may go along with it.<br /><br />
That's why the <a href="http://www.umwa.org/">United Mine Workers of America (<span class="caps">UMWA</span>)</a> is suing. <a href="http://www.statejournal.com/story/19902460/umwa-files-class-action-lawsuit-against-peabody-arch">Filed back in October</a>, the lawsuit cites the Employee Retirement and Income Securities Act, which states that coal companies must provide health insurance for retired miners.<br /><br />
However, the <span class="caps">UMWA</span> isn't suing Patriot Coal.<br /><br />
Most of the 10,000 workers in the class action lawsuit have <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toMmAkR1v5U">never actually worked </a>for Patriot. They actually put in their time (many with upwards of 30 years of service) with Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Coal Inc. The <span class="caps">UMWA</span> contends that Peabody and Arch sold off the benefits to a company that was <a href="http://www.statejournal.com/story/19902460/umwa-files-class-action-lawsuit-against-peabody-arch">doomed to fail</a>, therefore getting rid of the debt and leaving thousands without health insurance.</p>
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<p>Patriot Coal is a company that was “spun-off” from Peabody back in 2007, meaning it severed off from the main company and became its own entity. During the spin-off, Patriot acquired a couple of Peabody's mines and millions in retiree debt. Then, in 2008, Patriot acquired another company, then called Magnum Coal, which was originally spun off from Arch a few years previously. By the end, Patriot Coal wound up with more retired miners than active ones and filed for bankruptcy. In total, <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14360/in_the_coal_fields_a_novel_way_to_get_rid_of_pensions_is_born/">$557 million from Peabody, $500 million from Magnum (Arch)</a>, and now $1.3 billion in total debt.<br /><br />
And wouldn't you know, Patriot is being asked to be released from its financial obligations.<br /><br />
This is why the current lawsuit is against Peabody and Arch. The retiree benefits were originally their responsibility. Now that Patriot is going under, Peabody and Arch should reabsorb that responsibility. If the coal companies win, it could set a precedent for other coal companies to exploit a legal loophole and shed millions in obligations to their employees.<br /><br />
Naturally, Peabody and Arch are looking to dismiss the case. Vic Svec, a spokesperson with Peabody told the <a href="http://wvgazette.com/News/MiningtheMountains/201210240160?page=2&amp;build=cache"><em>Charleston Gazette</em></a> that, “Patriot was a completely viable company when it was spun off in 2007.” Arch has offered <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14360/in_the_coal_fields_a_novel_way_to_get_rid_of_pensions_is_born/">similar sentimentality</a>, stating they had no stake in the decision process when Patriot decided to purchase Magnum, despite the fact that Magnum originally broke off from Arch in the first place. According to them, the real culprits of Patriot's decline include more environmental regulations, natural gas' competition with coal (and cheap prices), and global markets.<br /><br />
Patriot filed for bankruptcy in the state of the New York, despite the fact that the mines are in West Virginia. Apparently, Patriot created two dummy corporations in New York so it could file there, a state known to be “<a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14360/in_the_coal_fields_a_novel_way_to_get_rid_of_pensions_is_born/">more friendly to corporations in bankruptcy cases</a>”. This would also bring the case farther away from where the actual industry resides.<br /><br />
In a win for the miners, the residing judge, <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman, <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/union-targets-peabody-arch-with-ad-campaign/article_c880eb2f-c2e7-53f5-bc9f-ff6626bf9dda.html">ruled that the suit should be moved back to St. Louis</a>, where Peabody, Arch, and Patriot all are headquartered. The <a href="http://www.fairnessatpatriot.org/press-releases/umwa-applauds-change-venue-ruling-patriot-coal-bankruptcy-case/">miners had appealed to the <span class="caps">NY</span> court</a> with “… hundreds of hand-written letters have been received by the Court from the people whose hands mine the Debtors’ coal and their widows and children. Many of them enclosed family pictures, or lists of ailments and medications. “<br /><br />
Coal mining is no easy trade, and many workers need the health insurance. The work can be massively debilitating to the body, and many workers find they need surgery and medical attention after years on the job, if work-related injuries didn't require them to retire in the first place. There's wear and tear from working with heavy loads, toxic materials, and other strenuous activities over decades. There's also the possibility of contracting <a href="http://www.umwa.org/?q=content/black-lung">Black Lung Disease</a> from breathing in coal dust or other forms of cancer.<br /><br />
The <span class="caps">UMWA</span>'s <a href="http://www.fairnessatpatriot.org/">campaign</a>, Fairness at Patriot, <a href="http://www.fairnessatpatriot.org/workers-lives/shirley-inman/">highlight's a couple of workers' ailments</a> and their needs for the insurance. They are also running <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toMmAkR1v5U"><span class="caps">TV</span> spots</a> in St. Louis, where the bankruptcy hearings will continue, trying to highlight the fact that these “liabilities” that Patriot, Peabody, and Arch are trying to dismiss have consequences for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdBLI_JiyBY">actual people</a> and are not just numbers on a shareholder's report.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/356472/3/Mine-workers-union-suing-local-energy-companies"><em><span class="caps">KSDK</span> Channel 5</em></a> of St. Louis, <span class="caps">MO</span> reports:</p>
<blockquote>
“These are people who worked for Peabody their whole lives, they retired from Peabody; they never worked a day for a company called Patriot Coal,” said Phil Smith, spokesman for United Mine Workers of America. “Another 20 percent of them only worked for Arch Coal. They never worked a day for Patriot. They don't understand how it is that a company that promised them that they would have healthcare all of a sudden doesn't have to live up to that promise.”</blockquote>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11587">UMWA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2479">peabody coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5671">Arch Coal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6627">Patriot Coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11588">Ch. 11 bankruptcy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2832">coal industry</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11589">St. Louis</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11590">Employee Retirement and Icome Securities Act</a></div></div></div>Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:52:34 +0000Laurel Whitney6803 at http://www.desmogblog.comFracking Your Future: Campus Drilling Extends Far Beyond Pennsylvaniahttp://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/22/fracking-your-future-campus-drilling-extends-far-beyond-pennsylvania
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/800px-ArlingtonHall.png?itok=vNgoVL0w" width="200" height="120" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The oil and gas industry plans to perform <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-the-future/">hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”)</a> on <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/17/fracking-your-future-shale-gas-industry-targets-college-campuses-schools">college campuses in Pennsylvania</a>, just as it currently does <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/17/fracking-your-future-shale-gas-industry-targets-college-campuses-schools">in close proximity to K-12 schools nationwide</a>. </p>
<p>But as <em><span class="caps">NPR</span></em> demonstrated in a recent <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/11/20/165564546/there-s-oil-on-them-there-campuses?ft=1&amp;f=1013">report</a>, that's just the tip of the iceberg.</p>
<p>“More than a dozen schools in states as varied as Texas, Montana, Ohio and West Virginia are already tapping natural resources on college campuses,” the <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/11/20/165564546/there-s-oil-on-them-there-campuses?ft=1&amp;f=1013">report explains</a>. “The University of Southern Indiana recently started pumping oil.”</p>
<p>Like Pennsylvania - which has seen <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/17/fracking-your-future-shale-gas-industry-targets-college-campuses-schools">higher education budget cuts totaling over $460 million</a> since Republican Gov. Tom Corbett took office in 2010 - nearly all of these states have faced massive cuts in their most recent budgets. </p>
<p>Texas, led by Republican Gov. Rick Perry, <a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/01/19/2781778/texas-budget-plan-would-cut-17.html">saw a $1.7 billion funding cut</a> in its most recent budget cycle. Indiana, led by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, was hit with <a href="http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/78571622.html">$150 million in higher education cuts</a> in its most recent budget.</p>
<p>Montana, led by Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer, was <a href="http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/article_63ad422c-210f-11e0-8f4e-001cc4c03286.html">handed $14.6 million in higher education cuts</a> in the most recent budget. And West Virginia, led by Democratic Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, saw <a href="http://www.dailymail.com/News/statenews/201210210172">$34 million evaporate from its higher education war chest</a> in its most recent budget cycle.</p>
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<h3>
Fracking on Campus a New Fundraising Mechanism, But “You Can't Drink Money”</h3>
<p>Fracking on cash-strapped college campuses in these states has become a new fundraising mechanism and a way to pad endowments.</p>
<p>“…[W]e can put the revenue toward encouraging gifts to the endowment,” Kristin Sullivan, a spokeswoman at University of Texas-Arlington <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/11/20/165564546/there-s-oil-on-them-there-campuses?ft=1&amp;f=1013">told <em><span class="caps">NPR</span></em></a>. “This is a finite resource. You have to be very wise about how you allocate that revenue.” </p>
<p>The costs associated with fracking on university grounds, though, go far above and beyond revenue it brings into vastly under-funded schools. The <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/cornell-fracking-shale-gas-more-dangerous-than-coal-climate">climate</a> and <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/19/study-fracking-pa-poisoning-communities-as-floodgates-open-drilling-campuses-public-parks">ecological costs</a> are also a huge part of any honest equation. </p>
<p>Or put much more simply, “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgYv2r_Wgp8">you can't drink money</a>.”</p>
<p><strong>Photo Credit</strong>: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ArlingtonHall.PNG">Wikimedia Commons</a> | <span class="caps">EMB</span>aero</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11165">University of Texas-Arlington</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11166">Fracking as Higher Education Fundraising Mechanism</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11167">University of Southern Indiana</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2411">Montana</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10646">higher education</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10587">Higher Education Budget Cuts</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11168">Fracking on Campus</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11169">Fracking on University Campuses</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11170">Fracking on College Campuses</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6040">Tom Corbett</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2625">pennsylvania</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11171">Kristin Sullivan University of Texas-Arlington</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10683">NPR</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2413">Brian Schweitzer</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5668">Earl Ray Tomblin</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2439">indiana</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6303">Ohio</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/917">texas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5565">shale gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7277">shale oil</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5137">hydraulic fracturing</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2800">natural gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6344">unconventional gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8931">unconventional oil</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11172">Fracking Your Future</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11173">You Can&#039;t Drink Money</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6814">Rick Perry</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11174">Mitch Daniels</a></div></div></div>Fri, 23 Nov 2012 21:58:27 +0000Steve Horn6683 at http://www.desmogblog.comMassey WV Coal Battle Take Two: Erie, CO Citizens Fight Frackinghttp://www.desmogblog.com/massey-wv-coal-battle-take-two-erie-co-citizens-fight-fracking
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/shutterstock_15465343%20%281%29.jpg?itok=VXbWjSyE" width="200" height="300" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie,_Colorado">Erie, <span class="caps">CO</span></a> meet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naoma,_West_Virginia">Naoma, <span class="caps">WV</span></a>. Though seemingly different battles over different ecologically hazardous extractive processes – <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-the-future/">hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) for unconventional gas</a> versus <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mountaintop_removal">mountaintop removal for coal</a> – the two battles are one in the same and direct parallels of one another. </p>
<p>On June 2, a coalition of activist organizations led by <a href="http://www.erierising.com/">Erie Rising</a> and joined by the likes of the <a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/">Sierra Club</a>, the Mark Ruffalo-lead <a href="http://www.waterdefense.org/">Water Defense</a>, the Angela Monti Fox-lead <a href="http://www.mothersforsustainableenergy.com/category/about/who-we-are">Mothers Project</a> (mother of “<a href="http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/">Gasland</a>” Producer and Director, Josh Fox), <a href="http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/">Food and Water Watch</a> (<span class="caps">FWW</span>), among others, will take to Erie, <span class="caps">CO</span> to say “leave and leave now” to <a href="http://www.encana.com/">EnCana Corporation</a>.</p>
<p>EnCana has big plans to drill baby drill in Erie.</p>
<p>It “plans to frack for natural gas near three local schools and a childcare center,” according to a press release disseminated by <span class="caps">FWW</span>. “On June 2, the event in Erie will give voice to those immediately affected by fracking there, and to all Americans marred by the process, becoming ground zero for the national movement to expose the dangers associated with fracking.”</p>
<p>The action is a simple one: a “rally and vigil to protest gas industry giant Encana’s plans to frack for natural gas near Red Hawk Elementary, Erie Elementary, Erie Middle School and Exploring Minds Childcare Center and transport toxic fracking by-products on roads that come within feet of these and other community schools,” reads the <span class="caps">FWW</span> press release.</p>
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<p>Actor and head of Water Defense, Mark Ruffalo, <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_20657595?source=bb">had this to say in <em>The Denver Post</em></a> of the upcoming action: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Erie Rising's struggle to protect children from the imminent danger of fracking is urgent. Encana wants to begin drilling by the schools early this summer, subjecting the town's children to the dangerous carcinogens that appear to have already caused so much illness.</p>
<div>
On June 2, Erie Rising is holding a rally in opposition to the wells by the school. Erie Rising's members still have a long fight to protect their kids, but they are exposing the claim of clean natural gas as a dirty lie. It's a struggle that is paving the way for mothers across the nation to stand up and fight for their own children's future.</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
Colorado <a href="http://www.spe.org/jpt/print/archives/2010/12/10Hydraulic.pdf">was one of the first two states</a> (Texas being the other) where <a href="http://www.halliburton.com/">Halliburton</a> (of “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/opinion/03tue3.html">Halliburton Loophole</a>” fame) chose to test its new horizontal drilling method in 1949, Sam Schabacker, Mountain West Region Director for <span class="caps">FWW</span> explained to DeSmogBlog in an interview. Colorado is home of the <a href="http://oilshalegas.com/niobrarashale.html">Niobrara Shale basin</a>. Its Governor is a Democrat, <a href="http://www.colorado.gov/governor">John Hickenlooper</a>, who in his former career was a <a href="http://www.politico.com/arena/bio/gov_john_hickenlooper.html">petroleum geologist</a>, working for Buckhorn Petroleum.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Hickenlooper was involved in a scandal in March of this year, appearing in a pro-fracking ad and making himself a de facto industry spokesman for the sector in which he was formerly employed. For his antics, he was called out by both the <a href="http://www.republicreport.org/2012/colorado-governor-john-hickenlooper-appears-in-pro-fracking-ad-sponsored-by-oil-gas-industry/"><em>Republic Report</em></a> and <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/02/29/434994/colorado-governor-john-hickenlooper-appears-in-fracking-ad/"><em>Think Progress</em></a>. <em>Think Progress</em> reported,</div>
<blockquote>
<div>
Hickenlooper’s background and track record may indicate why he has failed this test of good government…<a href="http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor_details.phtml?c=125393&amp;i=33">He took $73,666 from oil and gas interests in his 2010 election</a>, and <a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/02/29/governor_or_big_oil_spokesman/singleton/">as Salon points out</a>, appointed an <a href="http://www.realaspen.com/article/763/Western-Slope-watchdog-groups-worry-ihtat-Colorado-governors-appointees-are-an-oily-bunch">industry campaign donor to an important regulatory position</a>.</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
According to FollowTheMoney.org, the oil and gas industry has also given over $150,000 to <a href="http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor_details.phtml?s=CO&amp;y=2010&amp;i=33&amp;f=H">candidates</a> on <a href="http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor_details.phtml?s=CO&amp;y=2010&amp;i=33&amp;f=S">both</a> <a href="http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor_details.phtml?s=CO&amp;y=2012&amp;i=33&amp;f=S">sides</a> of the <a href="http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor_details.phtml?s=CO&amp;y=2012&amp;i=33&amp;f=H">aisle</a> running for seats in the Colorado House and Senate in the past two election cycles, 2010 and 2012, combined. With political circumstances such as these, it's perhaps no wonder people have stood up and decided to fight back. What other choice do they have?</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
“This encroachment of residential areas has really woken up a grassroots revolt of regular Coloradans who are standing up and saying don't come in my backyard,” said Schabacker in an interview. “And that's really what's going on in Erie. This is Exhibit A of how the gas industry has cavelierly expanded into residential areas against the wishes of local governments and regular Coloradans.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
“And so we're drawing a line in the sand [on this one]…and that's really what this fight is all about,” he continued. “It's mothers' standing up to protect their children in their community.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
If this seems like deja vu, it should.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Not only have communities around the United States been fighting back against the gas industry's proposals to frack in the areas surrounding <a href="http://www.westernresourceadvocates.org/schooldrill/">schoolyards</a> and <a href="http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12658">universities</a>, but similar battles have also been waged by activists against the coal industry in the recent past, as well.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Exhibit A of this fight was the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/goodbye-massey-coal-dust_b_559167.html">recent prolonged fight</a> in Naoma, <span class="caps">WV</span> against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Coal_(book)">King Coal</a> giant <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/3731">Massey Energy</a> in the past several years pertaining to its coal mountaintop removal extraction site in close proximity to <a href="http://marshfork.rale.k12.wv.us/">Marsh Fork Elementary School</a>. </div>
<h3>
The Fight Back Against Massey and Marsh Fork Elementary School: A Redux</h3>
<p>The community surrounding Marsh Fork Elementary School in Naoma, <span class="caps">WV</span> was also home to aggressive activism, this time a fight back against coal industry giant <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Massey_Energy">Massey Energy</a>, then led by now-retired <span class="caps">CEO</span> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Don_Blankenship">Don Blankenship</a>. The battle royale itself inspired many documentary films featuring it, including “<a href="http://thelastmountainmovie.com/">The Last Mountain</a>,” which also featured Bobby Kennedy Jr., “<a href="http://oncoalriver.com/">On Coal River</a>,” “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1100902/">Mountain Top Removal</a>,” and others. DeSmogBlog <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2nd-anniversary-upper-big-branch-mine-disaster-documentary-explores-lasting-impacts-mountaintop-removal">has written about the fight</a>, as well.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, the community surrounding Marsh Fork was turned upside down by Massey at its <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Upper_Big_Branch_Mine_South">Upper Big Branch Mine</a> project, which involved contaminated <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/01/us/01mine.html">air</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Water_pollution_from_coal">water</a> and left children susceptible to developing <a href="http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/05/19/4643/persistent-black-lung-old-scourge-coal-found-autopsies-most-massey-miners">Black Lung</a> and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1638110/">various cancers</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Health_effects_of_coal">other illnesses</a> as they grew older. A summary of the milleux that occurred in the area, appearing in the film ”<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1100902/">Mountain Top Removal</a>,” can be seen below.</p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-video-blog field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="media-youtube-outer-wrapper" id="media-youtube-1" style="width: 480px; height: 360px;">
<div class="media-youtube-preview-wrapper" id="media_youtube_uz8z2vNHs_0_1">
<object width="480" height="360">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uz8z2vNHs_0?version=3"></param>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
<param name="wmode" value="transparent" />
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uz8z2vNHs_0?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="360" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent"></embed>
</object> </div>
</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-text-after-video field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Like the battle in Erie of today, the battle in Naoma involved, as Schabacker put it in his interview, “mothers' standing up to protect their children in their community.” Ted Nace, Director of Coalswarm, a project on the Center for Media and Democracy's Sourcewatch project and author of the book <a href="http://climatehopebook.com/"><em>Climate Hope: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Coal</em></a>, told DeSmogBlog in an interview that it is these types of battles that win the hearts and minds of regular everyday people.</p>
<p>“Movements need rallying points and a movement needs to have cases of high visibility local impact,” said Nace.</p>
<p>“Those people who think about building movements should keep their eyes open to such cases. People at the local level are also looking to get visibility for their community. And I do think one of the big dimensions of environmental activism is finding stories that resonate for people. It's a lot easier for people to comprehend a story that involves other peoples' families than it is to understand a story about some unpronouncable chemical.”</p>
<p>Eventually, after a long, hard grassroots fight, <a href="http://grist.org/article/live-at-coal-river-mass-protest-against-mountaintop-removal/">often involving civil disobedience</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/goodbye-massey-coal-dust_b_559167.html">Massey Energy (with financial help from the Annenberg Foundation) was pressured into building a new school</a> for the community away from the Upper Big Branch Mine. </p>
<p>Time will tell whether Erie sees similar success. The parallel, at the very least, is an interesting one. </p>
<p><span style="line-height: 10px; "><strong>Image credit</strong>: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;searchterm=natural+gas+industry&amp;search_group=&amp;orient=&amp;search_cat=&amp;searchtermx=&amp;photographer_name=&amp;people_gender=&amp;people_age=&amp;people_ethnicity=&amp;people_number=&amp;commercial_ok=&amp;color=&amp;show_color_wheel=1#id=15465343&amp;src=d33e270708253903866e19f16f588805-1-38" target="_blank">Shutterstock</a> | </span><a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-54226p1.html" style="line-height: 10px; " target="_blank">Cindi Wilson</a></p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/sourcewatch">sourcewatch</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/encana">encana</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/center-for-media-and-democracy">center for media and democracy</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/662">coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/666">Sierra Club</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1832">Bobby Kennedy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2187">Colorado</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2686">think progress</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2800">natural gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3730">don blankenship</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3731">massey energy</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a 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class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9305">Erie Middle School</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9306">Marsh Fork Elementary School</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9307">Erie Elementary School</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9308">The Mothers Project</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9310">Climate Hope: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Coal</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9311">Russell Mendell</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9312">Russel Mendell</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9313">Ted Nace</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9314">Coalswarm</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9315">coal mountaintop removal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9316">Preemption Clause</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9317">Angela Monti Fox</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9318">Mark Ruffalo</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9319">Sam Schabacker</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9320">vigil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9321">rally</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9322">Deja Vu</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9323">Erie</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9324">EnCana Corporation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9325">Fork Marsh Elementary School</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9326">Water Defense</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9327">Erie Rising</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9333">The Denver Post</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9334">On Coal River</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9335">FollowTheMoney.org</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9336">Niobrara Shale Basin</a></div></div></div>Fri, 01 Jun 2012 22:46:49 +0000Steve Horn6346 at http://www.desmogblog.comCoal Ash Sites Posing Increasing Dangers To Water Supplies, Public Healthhttp://www.desmogblog.com/coal-ash-sites-posing-increasing-dangers-water-supplies-public-health
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/toxins-in-water.jpg?itok=gaKZ0peA" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The <a href="http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/news_reports/04_27_2012.php">Environmental Integrity Project</a> (<span class="caps">EIP</span>) has once again put together a fantastic report regarding water contamination near coal ash disposal sites.<br /><br />
Last year, the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/coal-ash-disposal-sites-contaminating-ground-water-19-states"><span class="caps">EIP</span> released</a> <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/report-arsenic-coal-ash-disposal-sites-leaching-groundwater">several reports</a> showing that drinking water near coal ash disposal sites in states across America contained dangerous levels of heavy metals and other toxins, including arsenic. In total, last year’s report revealed 53 sites in the United States where coal ash had polluted drinking water supplies.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/news_reports/documents/20120426_Final_ICRDataReport.pdf">The new report has identified a total of 116 coal ash sites</a> in America that are leaching deadly toxins into the environment.<br /><br />
The new <span class="caps">EIP</span> report resulted from a Freedom of Information Act (<span class="caps">FOIA</span>) request to the <span class="caps">EPA</span>, which revealed that 49 different coal-fired power plants acknowledged that their own testing showed that groundwater pollution around their disposal sites far exceeded the federally acceptable levels. <a href="http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/news_reports/documents/20120426_Final_ICRDataReport.pdf">Among the chemicals reported to exceed federal standards</a> at the coal-fired plants’ disposal sites are:<br /> </p>
<!--break-->
<blockquote>
Arsenic (a potent carcinogen) at no fewer than 22 plants<br /><br />
Manganese (a metal that can damage the nervous system in high concentrations) at 22<br /><br />
Boron (a pollutant that can cause damage to the stomach, intestines, liver, kidney, and brain when ingested in large amounts) at 12<br /><br />
Selenium (a toxic pollutant that causes adverse health effects at high exposures) at 13<br /><br />
Cadmium (a toxic pollutant that can damage the kidneys, lungs, and bones) at 10.<br />
</blockquote>
<p>From an <a href="http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/news_reports/documents/042612EIPCoalAshContaminationReportnewsrelease_Final.pdf"><span class="caps">EIP</span> press release</a>:<br /> </p>
<blockquote>
The information was originally requested by the <span class="caps">USEPA</span> Office of Water to help the agency evaluate the potential toxicity of wastewater containing ash or scrubber sludge that may be discharged to rivers or lakes. Forty two of the 91 coal-fired plants surveyed by <span class="caps">EPA</span> either did not respond, had no groundwater monitoring data, reported that available monitoring did not indicate that any standards had been exceeded, or claimed confidentiality.<br /><br />
Plants responding to <span class="caps">EPA</span>’s survey may be measuring some, but not all, contaminants subject to health-based standards, and lack of uniform monitoring standards for coal ash disposal sites means that methods of detection and measurement vary from state to state.<br />
</blockquote>
<p>This new report <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/alec-s-vision-pre-empting-epa-coal-ash-regs-passes-house">comes on the heels of a vote in the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> House of Representatives</a> on an amendment to the Surface Transportation Act of 2012 that would prohibit the <span class="caps">EPA</span> from regulating coal ash. That amendment was put forward by <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/gop-coal-ash-bill-may-be-hazardous-your-health">Representative David McKinley</a>, a Republican from West Virginia. To understand McKinley’s motives, here’s a snippet from last year’s “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/year-dirty-energy-coal">Year In Dirty Energy: Coal</a>” report:<br /> </p>
<blockquote>
Republican Representative David McKinley from West Virginia has <a href="http://www.congressweb.com/cweb2/index.cfm/siteid/TDL/action/TakeAction.Background/LetterGroupID/5">proposed a bill</a> that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (<span class="caps">EPA</span>) from regulating toxic coal ash. The <span class="caps">EPA</span> has not yet made a decision on whether or not to classify coal ash as toxic, but reports show that the substance poses significant risks to human health.<br /><br />
But after looking into <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&amp;cid=N00031681&amp;type=I">McKinley’s campaign coffers</a>, it is no surprise that he is fighting tooth and nail to prevent coal ash from being labeled as toxic. He has received more than $83,000 from the mining industry – the single largest industry to donate to his campaign. But it isn’t just the mining industry that has put money behind McKinley – <a href="http://www.campaignmoney.org/press-room/2011/04/25/rep-mckinley-raked-big-cash">big oil got in on the game as well</a>. Exxon Mobil put $8,000 in his pockets, and the Koch brothers threw in another $10,000. An interesting note about this freshman Congressman – 66% of his campaign contributions came from out of state. Not bad for a man who had never held a federal office before.<br />
</blockquote>
<p>Unfortunately for the folks in West Virginia who voted for McKinley, they have at least five coal ash disposal sites that are contaminating local groundwater supplies with toxic chemicals. And if politicians like David McKinley have their way, these sites will soon be out of the regulatory reach of the <span class="caps">EPA</span>, opening the door for a lot more coal ash pollution problems.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/epa">EPA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/republican">republican</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/640">exxon</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/662">coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2176">foia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3035">west virginia</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4406">coal ash</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5200">Environmental Integrity Project</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6427">David McKinley</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6550">arsenic</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6697">Mercury</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7897">EIP</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8031">Ash</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8890">Toxin</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8916">water pollution</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9006">Cadmium</a></div></div></div>Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:55:56 +0000Farron Cousins6231 at http://www.desmogblog.com